Hope and Honey Blog

Baby Leo’s HypnoBirth: Client Tells All

Here is a lovely hypnobirthing story from clients H & T who welcomed little Leo into the world recently. I think it’s so important to share real, positive birth stories so thank you to H&T for sharing this with us x

H writes “On Sunday I just wasn’t feeling very well…that evening I woke to cramps at 3am coming pretty consistently every 9mins lasting about a minute. I kept trying to sleep listening to affirmations until 7am when T woke up…by now they were 5mins apart and I was doing my surge breathes.

We continued the surge breathing and I tried to listen to my affirmations etc this continued until 12pm and we were umming and ahhing about whether to go into the birth centre or not…the ‘pressure’ was so bad, I felt I wanted to go in as I needed a bit of reassurance..so we did.

We kept going for an hour or so after our arrival and then I wanted a VE (vaginal examination) to see where I was at. I wanted the bath so bad for relief…unfortunately I was only 2cms. This was disheartening for me as I was struggling with the pain.

The midwives knew my plan and we’re very supportive. They offered me morphine with finergin to take the edge off and I was happy to try. Five minutes later my waters broke and it had thick green meconium. T and the midwife stayed very calm but we all immediately knew I had to be transferred to King Edwards.

Off we went and they explained that if I didn’t dilate to at least 4cm by next exam them I would need Pitocin (artificial induction). They also advised that this would increase the pain significantly.

I was ready for an epidural anyway by this stage. So that’s what we did. Immediately I felt huge relief and was able to get some much-needed sleep. With my body now relaxed at my next VE I was 6cm (avoiding induction..yay!), then not long 9cm, then it was time.

I was able walk around with no catheter and I wanted to squat as I breathed the baby down. We kept going for 1.5hr and then baby got a bit distressed. They called the doctor in. At this point I was like right…I’m gonna get this baby out…all I could think of was forceps for some reason! Unfortunately by now the epi numbed me just a little too much down my thighs and I couldn’t use my legs the way I wanted to. Onto the table and we discussed everything with the doc…delayed clamping and physiological placenta delivery…

I was helped on the type of pushing we needed, he was coming but the doctor said she could see my perineum looking to tear in a not ideal place and so she asked to snip..and just small snip and he was out!!! Skin to skin…delayed cord clamping…i did start bleeding a bit, so after about 10mins they injected me to get placenta out. Leo weighed 8.1lb /3.66kg and was 51cm long.

All in all…our ‘plan’ changed a lot….but I have absolutely no regrets what so ever and if anything, I feel really proud of myself and T with how we handled everything. Toby was totally my rock. Holding it together…doing everything right, despite me pushing him away sometimes and me telling him to push my knee up harder right at the end…bless him…he was my outlet. I felt comfortable yelling at him vs anyone else. He handled me so well. I love him to bits.

Overall, we felt really informed, confident to speak up and just went with what felt right for us.

T and I are so grateful for your hypnobirthing sessions as it was so pivotal to our birthing day and beyond. Thank you!”

One Comment on “Baby Leo’s HypnoBirth: Client Tells All”

“I love this birth story as it shows how plans can change but you can still feel happy with how the birth went. Much of this is to do with being informed and confident about all your choices and about your important involvement in all decisions throughout the birth.HypnoBirthing and antenatal classes are invaluable in preparing you for birth, helping you be confident together, know about your options and to have a voice. Thank you so much for sharing your story H&T and for our lovely fun classes together!”
Karenna from Hope and Honey